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“I meant to do a top 10 list, but I had too much to say and it became 11. Oh well, hope you like it. Please comment and add some suggestions of your own.” -Joey

When you’re shopping around for computer services in the Los Angeles Area, or anywhere for that matter, here are a few things to keep in mind to ensure that you get the best possible computer service and support.

Quick List: 1) Don’t just go for the “cheapest”. 2) Can you talk to a live person right away? 3) Are they professional? 4) Check to what their website looks like. 5) Read their testimonials. 6) Do they recommend reinstallation of the Operating System as a first resort? 7) Do they let you know exactly what is involved with each service? 8 ) Make sure they backup first and can migrate your data. 9) Do they charge per service or per hour? 10) Trust your gut instinct. 11) Ask to see if they offer maintenance plans.

1) Don’t always go for the cheapest quote. Not all services are the same. With computer services you usually get exactly what you pay for. That doesn’t mean you should pay the highest price out there, it just means that you shouldn’t be cheap when it comes to your priceless data and computer security. There is a reason why companies charge a decent amount for their services, it takes time and experience to get the job done correctly. If you don’t want to spend money, call your nephew or neighbor. Just hope they can do it right. You can also learn to do it yourself if you are trying to save money. Just realize that it does take time to do things right. That costs money. Understand that you have to pay for good service.

2) If you can get a hold of a person quickly the first time you call, you will more than likely be able to get a hold of them again in the future. If they don’t answer their phone and it goes to voicemail, they had better return the call in a timely manner. If they don’t answer or don’t get back to you, it might give a hint to their level of customer service. I wonder how responsive they’ll be when you call because your computer is still having the same problem they supposedly fixed. Hmmm.

3) How does the company answer the phone? Do they answer in a professional manner? Do they just answer with Hello? If they answer by saying their business name first, you know that they are a serious business and not just a one-man-show answering their cellphone. You need a company you can rely on. Computer service is something that is needed on an on-going basis. One-man-shows are dangerous because you can’t rely on them all of the time. They can only be at one place at one time…unless they don’t have any clients which may be yet another hint as to their level of service. Pay close attention to whether the person on the other end of the line is paying close attention to your questions and statements or whether they are just trying to “sell” you. Test them to see if they understand what you’ve asked for.

4) What does their website look like? You’re looking for a computer service company. If they are up on technology, they should have a decent looking website. If they have a shabby looking website, they might be one man show with a small budget or a company that doesn’t understand the importance of a website and company image. Either way, stay away from them and go with a company that “looks and feels” professional. If they’ve spent some time and money on their website, then they are serious about their business. That’s important.

5) Read their customer testimonials on their website and on independent sites. Search the company name in Google and Yahoo. Search for the company in Yellowpages.com and Superpages.com. What do past clients have to say about the company? Negative feedback or no feedback? Watch out. Go with a company with a proven track record with their clients. Make sure the testimonials are written by real people and not employees of the company. You can usually tell because real testimonials will sound and feel different than ones that are made up. If all of their testimonials sound the same, they’re probably fake.

6) Reinstalling your Operating System should be the last resort. Most good computer service technicians can remove almost any virus and repair most problems. There are some cases when reformatting and reinstalling makes sense, just not in most. It makes sense to reinstall when time is an issue; virus and spyware removal, repairing specific system files, and resolving software conflicts can take up to 3 to 5 hours to complete. If time is of the essence, it makes sense to reinstall. If it costs less to reinstall the operating system than to resolve your specific problem, then it might be a good idea. Just make sure you know what else is involved. See number 3. Find a company that understands that reinstallation is a last resort technique. This goes back to number 1. Most companies that charge a fair rate, will be willing to take the extra time to do things correctly by not reinstalling as a first resort.

7) If the technician does have to reinstall the operating system, you should understand that EVERYTHING will be deleted. If you have important data, you need to make sure that they migrate the data first, reinstall the operating system, then migrate the data back.

8 ) Make sure that when they migrate the data from an old operating system to a new one, that they integrate the data with the programs by importing the data. Your data file for your addressbook, email, and favorites are useless unless you can see the data in the program they are meant to run in.

9) Pay close attention to the company’s pricing method. I think that companies that charge only for solutions, per-job basis, are generally better than companies that charge per hour. Companies that charge per-job have to be confident that they can get the job done or else they don’t get paid for the service. When a computer service company charges per service, then they can take the time to ensure that the job is done correctly without feeling rushed. If the company charges per hour, make sure you get an estimate up front and make sure they stick to their quote. Find out if they have a guarantee in case they are working on the problem for a few hours and cannot solve the problem you called for. You don’t want to get stuck with a $400 bill and still have the same problem. Try to find a company that only charges after they fix your problem. (Side note: make sure you understand how much the company charges just to send out a technician to diagnose your problem.) Find out how long their work is guaranteed for.

10) Noticed that I’ve mention “feel” or “feelings” a couple of times. That is because I really believe that your gut instinct and your first impressions are usually pretty accurate. Having a technician service your computer system or network on-site requires trust. Trust must have a solid foundation which starts the moment you start the communication with the company. Do you feel that this company is trust-worthy? Backup your “feeling” with some factual information by searching their website, checking the BBB and reading testimonials and you will have enough ammo to make a good decision.

11) Ask to see if they offer maintenance plans. Companies name their plans differently. I have heard the plans called monthly maintenance plans, service plans, support contracts and personal technician plans. GeekSquad offers Black Tie Service for Laptops. Try to find a company that offers plans with no long term contracts. You don’t want to get stuck with a bad company. The reason I recommend companies that offer these services is because it shows that they are interested in maintaining their clients’ computers and not just looking for the one time fix. They are interested in a long-term relationship with their clients. These plans can keep overall costs down because they can prevent problems from happening in the first place. Clients who purchase these maintenance plans often get special benefits such as priority service and services at discounted rates.

Check the Computer Repair Directory for local listings near you: http://www.pcrepairdirectory.com

Hard Drive Data Recovery


E-Geniuses Data Recovery - How to Recover Data from a Hard Drive

Here are the 3 basic types of hard drive “crashes” and how to recover data in these scenarios.:

1) File structure is incorrect (usually caused by improper shutdown or disconnecting the drive while it is being written to. Usual fix involves running a scandisk or chkdsk. Scan can take a few hours at most depending on the settings.

2) Unreadable data caused by bits being de-magnetized. Can be resolved by running programs which “re-magnetize” the bits. This is common on laptops that get jarred or dropped mildly. Bad sectors that aren’t physically damaged can be recovered. Software used: HDD Regenerator or SpinRite. Scans can take days.

3) Hardware failure. Sometimes the disk/platter gets scratched, the arm stops working (head crash), or the on-board chip gets fried. All of these repairs require a specialty recovery service. Anytime the hard drive needs to be opened, a clean room (dust-free room) is required. Time to recover data depends on the company. Turn around times is a few weeks.

Did you know that people make money with their personal blogs? Blogs can be personal online journals, sources for news and entertainment, or as many businesses have found out, a marketing tool. If you’re serious about blogging for an audience, you don’t have to be Shakespeare, but you do have to have something relevant to say.

Unlike Wikipedia, blogs can focus on people’s opinions and perspectives. Blogs can be more conversational and subjective, rather than 100% fact-based, allowing writers and readers to share their perspectives.
Blogging spectrum

The ability to share ideas and to actively collaborate allows people to come to reasonable conclusions when hard facts are unavailable or sometimes unattainable. Sharing ideas with others around the world has never been so easy. A good blog engages the reader and encourages them to think and respond with their own ideas.

Blogging Tip #1: Write about things you know about and enjoy. Blogs are easy to start. WordPress is one of the best online publishing systems for blogging. It is free to sign up for an account and publishing articles is as easy as sending email. Initial setup takes less than 10 minutes. There are paid versions of WordPress that are useful for marketing, but we will talk about that in an upcoming issue.

Blogging Tip #2: You can monetize your blog! The secret is having a large enough audience and the only way to do that is to have good content. Monetizing a blog can be done in many ways. Paid advertisements can earn you money when they’re clicked. You could sell products or services, become known as an expert in your “field” and thus influencing people to purchase from affiliates, directing traffic to your main website which sells products or services just to name a few. We will go into the details of each method in our future newsletters.

To sum it up: if you create a blog that people find useful and fun, have an audience, write about topics related to your product or service, have a good product or service, then your blog can be monetized.

I would like to read your blog. After you create your blog and write your first post, send us a link to your blog. I will make sure to read it and comment on it. For more information regarding this or any other computer related issue, feel free to contact an E-Geniuses Technician at (877) My-Genius.

We are offering a new type of service that will allow parents to restrict access to certain websites based on categories. Control is back where it belongs, with the parents. For example, you can allow access to social networking websites such as Myspace and Facebook, but restrict access to video sharing sites such as Youtube and Break; it’s up to you! The service adheres to requirements set by the CIPA Children’s Internet Protection Act which schools and libraries are required to meet.

Businesses can also use this service to restrict the sites that employees can visit, ensuring maximum productivity. We begin by tracking the non-work-related sites that employees visit most. From there, management can decide which sites to allow or disallow. You can even place a company logo and custom message whenever someone visits a website that you have set to disallow. Their is no longer a need to constantly monitor what your employees are doing. Many companies, non-profits, banks, colleges, and government agencies such as, The UPS Store, Salvation Army, First One Financial, Washington State University, Louisa County, Virginia, use the same service we’re offering.

A feature that everyone benefits from is the ability to filter and block websites that are designed to steal a person’s identity. These "phishing" sites imitate the look of many on-line banking and credit card websites. When a user types their account information and password, the information is sent to a complete stranger whose intentions are unknown. The list we use to block these websites is constantly updated as new sites are created.

Did we also mention that browsing the Internet also becomes faster and more reliable? Normally your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is responsible for making sure that when you type www.google.com, it routes you to the correct website. The problem is that sometimes you are routed to a domain name server that is across the country only to connect again to a server a few miles away. This slows down browsing significantly. Upgrading your bandwidth will not solve this. The only solution is to make sure that the data travels the shortest possible path. We can ensure that the server that you connect to is the closest one possible and that you get the most of your Internet browsing experience.

For Monthly Maintenance and Personal Technician clients the cost of setting up this service is $90.30, a 30% discount. For new clients, the charge is $129.

To setup OpenDNS in your home and/or office, or for more information regarding this or any other computer related issue, feel free to contact an E-Geniuses Technician at (877) My-Genius or email info@e-geniuses.com.

I predict that 2008 will be the year of the ultraportable computer. In the last newsletter we featured the Asus EEE PC, a 2lb., 7" ultraportable laptop. This month’s feature is the latest ultraportable from Apple… the Macbook Air. The price of the Macbook Air is $1799 while the Asus is $349. Here are some features that justify the price difference.

Apple claims to have made the world’s thinnest notebook at only .76 inches at its thickest point. It weighs in at around 3 lbs. and features a 13.3" screen and a full-sized backlit keyboard. The oversized touchpad shares most of the multi-touch functions with the iPhone. With its built-in battery, Apple claims a battery life of 5 hrs. There is one USB port, a headphone jack and a micro-DVI slot for connecting to an external monitor. It has a 1.6-1.8Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2GB of RAM and an 80Gb hard drive. It also sports a built-in iSight camera. It also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth which comes in handy since it does not have an ethernet port. The Macbook Air utilizes wireless technology to connect to other computers when a CD/DVD drive is necessary due to its lack of a built-in drive.

This would be well suited to anyone seeking a lightweight yet fully featured laptop. If you are looking for an ultraportable laptop suited for more casual use to supplement your full-sized laptop or desktop, I would recommend purchasing an Asus EEE for $1400 less. You could even use the money you’ve saved on the more powerful Macbook (not Air) and still have about $300 left over.

For more information regarding this or any other computer related issue, feel free to contact an E-Geniuses Technician at (877) My-Genius.

www.E-Geniuses.com

You won’t find any geeks, nerds or dorks there, just Geniuses.

What if you woke up tomorrow to find that all of your photos, emails, and important documents on your computer were gone? In the event of a theft, hard drive crash, natural disaster or simply by accidental deletion it would be difficult and costly, if not impossible, to retrieve those files.

To simplify the data backup process for our clients, E-Geniuses has found Carbonite, an inexpensive, secure and unobtrusive online backup tool. After purchase and installation, Carbonite works seamlessly with your computer to backup your constantly changing files to a secure and encrypted offsite location. Carbonite is easy to use and a fully automatic program. After initial setup, you’re done!

When you need to restore your files, it only takes a few clicks (to your current computer or a new computer if your computer is stolen or damaged) to retrieve your files. Carbonite allows you to backup an unlimited amount of data for a flat yearly fee of $49.95.

Here’s TechCrunch’s Article about Carbonite.

To setup Carbonite in your home and/or office, or for more information regarding this or any other computer related issue, feel free to contact an E-Geniuses Technician at (877) My-Genius.

UPDATE: A Similar Program for Mac Users Also!

It’s called Mozy. Check out Mozy’s Website for more details.

E-Geniuses were an extreme help to our company’s computer crashing crisis. They were very professional, got back to us regarding questions in no time, and punctual at that! They fixed our problem with a quickness, due to their expertise and took the time to explain to us as simply as possible, what the problem was ,and how to avoid it. They are indeed life savers, as most of us live our lives nowadays via the computer.  They have our highest recommendation, and will be kept on file whenever we find ourselves in a bind again

-Cristina

I arrived at the client’s apartment complex in the city of West Covina, CA. It was hard to find the exact location. It was raining so I was in a hurry to get inside the house. I called the client and they guided me in the right direction.

The problem they were having was with a virus infested computer. They explained that their computer was a few years old, but it was older and slower than I expected. That is a nightmare considering that virus and spyware removal are resource intensive. Scanning requires a lot from the CPU, the RAM and the Hard Disk Drive.

A pre-boot scan found 16 different viruses, mostly trojans. When the computer came on, I scanned it again with a few anti-spyware programs. I found and removed a few more bugs. Two hours had already passed. To finish up, I scanned the registry, startup folder and system32 folder manually. Nothing there.

The computer ran a lot smoother but I still had to recommend that the client look into upgrading to a newer machine in the future. They agreed but said they weren’t in the position to buy a new computer.

They were happy with the service and got the Monthly Maintenance Plan.

Happy Holidays!
Everyone at E-Geniuses hopes that you and your loved ones have a wonderful and safe holiday season.

ULTRALIGHT, ULTRAPORTABLE, ULTRA-AFFORDABLE
There are many characteristics that stand out about this new notebook from Asus but there are three in particular that create the most waves. The first thing that most people will notice is the form factor, which is much smaller than most laptops. When closed, it weighs 2lbs and is roughly the same size as a small novel. Next is the very unconventional name: “Eee PC”. The name Eee comes from "the three Es"; an abbreviation of their advertising slogan for the device: "Easy to learn, Easy to work Easy to play". The third aspect that captures most people’s attention? The price. This ultraportable and full featured laptop is only $399.

This notebook comes equipped with a full suite of preinstalled software that allows you the same capabilities of your home computer but on-the-go. You can browse the web using FireFox, use Skype with the built-in web cam and microphone, open Word and Excel docs and edit them, view photos, listen to music files, use AOL IM, MSN messenger or just about any other major chat client. Although pre-installed with Linux, it is also capable of running Windows XP. The Asus Eee PC can be found online at Amazon.com, BestBuy.com and Costco.com.

For more information regarding this or any other computer related issue, feel free to contact an E-Geniuses Technician at (877) My-Genius